MassDigi's reputation is expanding nationwide

Sunday

May 4, 2014 at 6:00 AM

By Peter S. Cohan WALL & MAIN

Tim Loew is helping to spread the reputation of Becker College's MassDigi around the country. That means more students with skills and ambitions in video game development want to spend their summer in Worcester.

As Mr. Loew explained to me in December 2012, that year MassDigi ran a summer innovation program from May to August for 18 students from Fitchburg State University, Northeastern University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Mount Ida College and Bunker Hill Community College.

MassDigi put them to work on game development projects in a studio setting with the help of experienced video gaming industry mentors. As Mr. Loew said at the time, "The program this year was terrific for the students, and they created three games that are still live."

MassDigi planned to continue and expand its summer innovation program in 2013 and was exploring the idea of "serving as a new kind of publisher for indie game developers in Massachusetts" helping them with promotion and distribution.

As I learned in an April 28 interview with Mr. Loew, he has helped to lead that expansion. The number of people applying to its summer innovation program has more than tripled in the last two years. Explained Mr. Loew, "We had 157 applicants from 31 universities for this summer's program. We accepted 22 applicants from 12 colleges. In 2012, we had 55 applicants, in 2013 there were 80. The goal for us this summer is to host four gaming projects that will start work at the end of May and launch in August. We have representation from the West, Midwest and Northeast, and we are the largest game development internship in the U.S."

Becker has gotten funds from the Department of Commerce to house MassDigi's game development incubator.

"Last fall, we received a $1.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce, which Becker will match, for a total funding of $2.8 million to renovate a building on the Becker campus to host team rooms. By September 2015, we hope to open the New Venture Center," said Mr. Loew.

The purpose of the New Venture Center is to draw game development talent from so-called Gateway Cities, including Worcester, Lowell and Springfield, and encourage them to start game development companies in these locations.

My interpretation is that Gateway Cities is a nice way of describing Massachusetts cities that used to be industrial centers and have lost their lead in those industries, leaving vacant buildings and shuttered businesses in their wake.

MassDigi has clear ideas about the kind of talent that it wants to attract. Mr. Loew said, "We are creating a center for student entrepreneurs who launch new ideas while they are in the relatively safe confines of school. We are looking for high potential college juniors and seniors. They should have experience with gaming, demonstrate the ability to assemble a strong team, have high quality game design skills, strong portfolios and project experience."

So far, MassDigi has attracted talent that has made some progress.

"We've had graduates who have gotten Kickstarter funding. And we worked with WPI graduate Ryan Casey's High Class Kitsch, the gaming studio that makes and sells the game Pandora. One of our graduates was selling a game he developed called Aegis to thousands of people at a gaming trade fair, PAX East," said Mr. Loew.

But selling a single game is different from creating "a platform for producing a series of successful games."

As Mr. Loew explained, "Venture capital is not attracted to a single game. It wants to invest in a company that it believes can develop a series of successful games."

The gaming industry is huge and growing — but it is hard to pick winning companies.

"The gaming industry is growing as more people play more games on more devices. It will reach $100 billion globally over the next few years. But a successful game does not make a successful business. It is very hard for a company that produces a hit game to come up with a string of successful games. We hope that in the next one or two years there will be a couple of people who can do that but it's hard to predict," noted Mr. Loew.

I admire what MassDigi has accomplished over the last few years. And it would be great to see Worcester emerge as a place where gaming startups could get capital and mentoring so they would grow and hire talent locally. If that happens, perhaps the vacant spaces in the state's Gateway Cities will be buzzing with new activity spawned by the gaming talent that MassDigi has drawn to Worcester.

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